Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 07:56:35 -0800 (PST)
From: "R. James Martin" <rjamesmartin@yahoo.com>
Subject: Medscape notice
To: karen.heywood@nbc.com
I found the following on Medscape, and man do I have a response:
"National newsmagazine DATELINE NBC is looking for participants for a possible report about Internet medical health information. We hope Medscape.com users might be able to help.
DATELINE is looking for stories from people who have used the Internet to find such information or order products. Were you satisfied? Do you feel you were led astray?
Those interested may e-mail Karen Heywood (karen.heywood@nbc.com) or call 202-885-4484 for more information or to tell us their stories. All information will be kept confidential unless the participant agrees that NBC may use it.
Thank you.
Karen Heywood
Producer
Dateline NBC
Washington, DC
karen.heywood@nbc.com"
As a Lyme disease (LD) sufferer, I've had to make extensive use of the internet for research. There are no hard,
fast or consistent answers for the LD community. So in that respect, I sure am not satisfied with the results.
On the otherhand, the very fact that there is no agreement within the medical community is frightening.
From the extensive research I have done, I've found that the Dr. Koop, NIH, and CDC web sites are the most conservative
(if not outmoded), and most prone to stonewall corrective actions.
As an example, the following (I have Art's permission to repost) received no response:
Subject: Inaccurate and misleading Lyme disease information on drkoop.com
Date: 1999/06/04
Author: Art Doherty mailto:doherty@utech.net
To Whom It May Concern at drkoop.com:
A review of the Lyme disease information on your site prompts me to send the following comments. These comments pertain to the subsection entitled Other Management Issues - "Persistent Symptoms after Appropriate Treatment" contained in:
Lyme Disease - Treatment Guidelines http://www.drkoop.com/centers/lyme_disease/page_65_308.asp
This section is very misleading. It implies, and can very easily be interpreted by consumers of medical care and/or professionals, that any Lyme disease symptoms after conventional antibiotic treatment must be due to something other than continuing infection. This is false. How do I know? I have read numerous abstracts and studies on the subject and my own experience with Lyme disease, and the experiences of many other patients, denies the truth of your information.
You have posted information based on only one of the Lyme disease treatment positions regarding the very politically and economically charged Lyme disease situation - the position that Lyme disease is easily diagnosed and easily cured, held by the ALDF (American Lyme Disease Foundation), Drs Steere and Sigal (testifies for insurance companies against Lyme disease patients and doctors), Yale, HMOs, insurance companies, etc.
Another position - that held by the LDF (Lyme Disease Foundation - Hartford, CT), The Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey (LymeNet), Lyme Alliance, LDANJ (Lyme Disease Association of New Jersey), Lyme disease knowledgeable patients, Lyme disease knowledgeable clinical doctors, etc. - realizes that Lyme disease is not easily diagnosed nor easily cured and oftentimes requires extensive antibiotic retreatments due to relapses or continued infection.
Furthermore, if Lyme disease is easily cured, why would the NIH (National Institutes of Health) be spending $4,000,000 on a five-year study of the issue? See:
Links for the NIH "chronic" Lyme disease study http://www.geocities.com:80/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/nih-study-links.txt
Hopefully, you will include at drkoop.com more accurate information on the treatment of Lyme disease. See attached links regarding the issue of chronic Lyme disease and other Lyme disease issues.
Art Doherty
Lompoc, California
You have my permission to use any and all information contained on my web site.
R. James Martin
rjamesmartin@yahoo.com
James Martin's Lyme Disease Horror Story
How Lyme Disease And Exploitation Of ERISA Laws Can Ruin A Life
Art Doherty was a BC to the above, and he responded:
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 08:01:59 -0800
From: Art Doherty <doherty@utech.net>
Reply-to: doherty@utech.net
To: "R. James Martin" <rjamesmartin@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Medscape notice
James,
Good letter. Also, since I sent that Dr Koop email, I have done more research into Lyme disease issues. Here are some annotated bibliographies that could be used by any of the media for quotes from medical/scientific abstracts on the issues:
Annotated bibliographies on Lyme disease issues.
The web pages at the following links contain citations and highlighted extracts for medical and scientific articles from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Library of Medicine (NLM) MEDLINE database, pertaining to Lyme disease issues:
Persistence or Relapse of Lyme Disease - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/persistence-biblio.html
Seronegative or False Negative Lyme disease - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/seronegative-biblio.html
Long-Term or Repeated Antibiotic Therapy for Lyme Disease - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/therapy-biblio.html
Is Lyme Disease Underdiagnosed or Overdiagnosed? - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/under-over-diag-biblio.html
Latent, dormant, subclinical, or asymptomatic Lyme Disease - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/latent-biblio.html
Antibiotic Prophylaxis After Tick Bite For Prevention Of Lyme Disease - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/prophylaxis-biblio.html
Is the lone star tick known to carry Lyme disease? - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/lone-star-biblio.html
Insects or Vectors, Other Than Ticks, and Lyme Disease - An Annotated Bibliography
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/insects-biblio.html
For more information about Lyme disease, see:
Lots Of Links On Lyme Disease
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/lyme-links.html
For errors or additions please send email to the address below.
-----
Prepared by
Art Doherty
Lompoc, California
doherty@utech.net
